Monday, August 28, 2006

Wow! It's great to be back into the swing of things but it makes life go by in whirlwind fashion.

If you are reading this you may be thinking I need to return your phone call, or e-mail you, or visit you! You may be thinking that it is about time I updated my blog! But along with the kids school starting I am in the process of putting together a 9 week womens bible study, on top of learning new music that I am teaching in the next few weeks and learn to do homework with two children instead of one...All while trying to prepare a nutritious meal that is balanced, tasty, and doesn't make my children think of penguin throw-up. Oh, and try to help the husband, who may be taking an unexpectant work related trip that is dependant on Ernestos mood in the next day or two. I just keep chucking about how everyone kept telling me that I was going to have so much time once my children were both in school.....all I can say is: HA!

These are times when I have to remember that as a woman I can use my mind or lose my mind...But only one option will get the laundry done, or make sure the oil in the car gets changed and will gently tuck everyone to bed at night while they rest peacefully thinking that all this stuff just magically gets done. :)

Honestly, I like it when life gets a little bit hectic, as long as it only lasts a few days. Then bring on the calm.

Friday, August 25, 2006

I received this e-mail from my brother today. I thought it was so full of memorbalia that I would pass it on.

You Know You Grew Up In The 80's if: 1. You've ever ended a sentence with the word SIKE. 2. You watched the Pound Puppies. 3. You can sing the rap to the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and can do theCarlton.4. Girls wore biker shorts under their skirts and felt stylishly sexy.5. You yearned to be a member of the Baby-sitters club and tried tostart a club of your own. 6. You owned those lil' Strawberry Shortcake pals scented dolls. 7. You know that "WOAH" comes from Joey on Blossom 8. Two words: Hammer Pants 9. If you ever watched "Fraggle Rock" 10. You had plastic streamers on your handle bars... and spokey-dokesor playing cards on your spokes for that incredible sound effect 11. You can sing the entire theme song to "Duck Tales" (Woo ooh!) 12. It was actually worth getting up early on a Saturday to watchcartoons. 13. You wore a ponytail on the side of your head. 14. You saw the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on the bigscreen..and still know the turtles names. 15. You got super-excited when it was Oregon Trail day in computerclass at school. 16. You made your mom buy one of those clips that would hold yourshirt in a knot on the side. 17. You played the game "MASH"(Mansion, Apartment, Shelter, House) 18. You wore stonewashed Jordache jean jackets and were proud of it. 19. L.A. Gear....need I say more? 20. You wanted to change your name to "JEM" in Kindergarten. (She'sTruly Outrageous.) 21. You remember reading Tales of a fourth grade nothing and all TheRamona books. 22. You know the profound meaning of "WAX ON, WAX OFF" 23. You wanted to be a Goonie. 24. You ever wore fluorescent clothing. (some of us...head-to-toe) 25. You can remember what Michael Jackson looked like before his nosefell off and his cheeks shifted. 26. You have ever pondered why Smurfette was the only female smurf. 27. You took lunch boxes to school...and traded Garbage Pailkids inthe schoolyard. 28. You remember the CRAZE, then the BANNING of slap bracelets. 29. You still get the urge to say "NOT" after every sentence. 30. You remember Hypercolor t-shirts. 31. Barbie and the Rockers was your favorite band. 32. You thought She-ra (Princess of Power!) and He-Man should hook up.33. You thought your childhood friends would never leave because youexchanged handmade friendship bracelets. 34. You ever owned a pair of Jelly-Shoes. 35. After you saw Pee-Wee's Big Adventure you kept saying "I know you are, but what am I?" 36. You remember "I've fallen and I can't get up" 37. You remember going to the skating rink before there were inlineskates. 38. You ever got seriously injured on a Slip and Slide. 39. You have ever played with a Skip-It. 40. You had or attended a birthday party at McDonalds. 41. You've gone through this nodding your head in agreement. 42. You remember Popples. 43. Don't worry, be happy.44. You wore like, EIGHT pairs of socks over tights with high topReeboks. 45. You wore socks scrunched down (and sometimes still do..gettingyelled at by younger hip members of the family) 46. You remember boom boxes and walking around with one on yourshoulder like you were all that. 47. You remember watching both Gremlins movies. 48. You know what it meant to say "Care Bear Stare!!" 49 You remember watching Rainbow Bright and & My Little Pony Tales 50. You thought Doogie Howser/Samantha Micelli was hot. 51. You remember Alf, the lil furry brown alien from Melmac. 52. You remember New Kids on the Block when they were cool...and don'teven flinch when people refer to them as "NKOTB" 53. You knew all the characters names and their life stories on "SavedBy The Bell," The ORIGINAL class. 54. You know all the words to Bon Jovi - SHOT THROUGH THE HEART. 55. You just sang those words to yourself. 56. You remember watching Magic vs. Bird. 57. Homemade Levi shorts.. (the shorter the better)58. You remember when mullets were cool! 59. You had a mullet! 60. You still sing "We are the World" 61. You tight rolled your jeans.62. You owned a bannana clip.63. You remember "Where's the Beef?" 64. You used to (and probably still do) say "What you talkin' 'bout Willis?" 65 You had big hair and you knew how to use it. 66. You're still singing shot through the heart in your head, aren'tyou! PASS THIS ON TO ALL OF YOUR FRIENDS WHO GREW UP IN THE 80s or Early90s

ROCK ON!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`I want to hear comments on how many of you did actually sing "Shot through the heart"...and are still humming it. I am!

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

I promise my blogging will be better.....I just have to get through the rest of this week and into next!

This is major transition time for me. School for me started last week and working 4-5 hours in every morning, tends to put a cramp in the schedule, leaving very little time for serious things like blogging or doing laundry. Ok, Ok...I know laundry isn't really serious but I put that in so that the hubby would know that I am actually thinking about getting that done...Eventually.

Next week is the full week back to school for the kids. We only get a taster this Friday in preparation for the full course next week...That's when the fun will begin.

This summer has been fantastic. I cannot believe that it is over.

So I will be blogging a little less until I get used to the new schedule and can organize my computer time. Tomorrow the kids and I are spending the entire day together so look for an update on Friday afternoon when I have come home for lunch and realize my house is empty!

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

I do believe I have sufficiently recovered from our camping trip! Whew! That is one weekend I am glad is over!

This has been a great week. It's good to be back at work. The best part is getting to know the other teachers a bit. I started in the middle of the year last year so it's nice to have this week (and next) to get to know everyone better.

I always seem to get more accomplished when I know that time is limited and must be maximized. It motivates me to do what I need to do. Summertime is good for an abundance of time but isn't so great for efficient use of that time. It was good to be unstructured for a time....But it's time to jump back in.

Monday, August 14, 2006

Some of it is an attempt to get rid of fabrics that have been lying around in bags on shelves for, quite literally, years. Some of it is because I think I have finally figured out that the summer is the best time to get any sort of crafting done because I am more able to make the time to do it....I guess the truth could be said for the rest of the year, but with shuffling kids around and doing all the activities of school-time it is a bit more difficult to make the time count.

My latest endeavor was an apron I decided to make from some leftover material. Projects like these are fun because I pulled out the material, had an inspiration and started to get an idea of what I wanted it to look like, and had it completed within two hours. I like that: From inspiration to creation. Completed. In a tidy amount of time.

I also do enjoy aprons. For some reason I am always attracted to them. They aren't always as cutesy as this one turned out to be. I love when they are super feminine though...not like ones that you use to BBQ with. I guess I have a bit of old fashion blood in me. However, commercial aprons are always so darn expensive so I never indulge...But I am beginning to think that I can start a collection of original handmade aprons for myself...Or more likely this may be my only one!

Sunday, August 13, 2006

Sometimes it's an adventure that you enjoy. You can throw your head back with glee, fill the wind in your hair and raise your arms in the air to reach the feeling of being in what I like to call "safe danger". Meaning, you feel scared, but it's kind of fun. The danger is in reality, an illusion.

Sometimes the adventure comes and it's more like a family of four running wildly down the trail from an evasion of epidemic proportions.

The airports around the country were confiscating water and lipstick from people on airplanes, while we were driving to the Smoky Mountains on a family trip to the woods and encountered a terror of our own.

My family was attacked by hornets. Twice.

Yellow-jackets to be exact.

It is still somewhat traumatic to this mom who watched her children run from their father and I in the attack, so I won't go into details. But the good news is that although the The Mister and The Boy were stung multiple times, and The Girl and I just once each, we didn't have reactions that required the Epy-Pen or the inhaler (even though allergy testing done years ago on The Boy suggested otherwise). I always carry Benadryl pills and ointment with me while hiking and in 11 years of marriage this is the first time we have had to use it.

Oh yeah, and have you ever heard that the Great Smoky Mountains are known for their rain? Well, the rumors are true. It rained so much that our tent leaked. Big time. This was probably due to the fact that the last time we took the tent out it collapsed under 3 inches of snow. It probably needed to be re-seem sealed.

The Great Smoky Mountains are exquisite. We love them. It just seems they do not like us.

Do not get me wrong...There were a few highlights along the way. But this adventure colored the trip more than the green that surrounded us.

Last time we weren't going to let snow bring us off the mountain. This time we shook our fists at those grumpy stinging beasts and swore they wouldn't push us off the mountain. So there are a few pictures of the happy times....and what could be happier than a little post bee sting marshmallow roasting?

After it rained all night (both nights) and into late Saturday morning we finally threw our hands up and yelled "Uncle!". Then we packed it up and left.

We did go to Gatlinburg, even though everything we had heard about Gatlinburg is true. It's crowded, commercial, and not at all a down-home quaint country town. Hey, it's got the Hard Rock Cafe. It's like expecting to see Yellowstone but arriving in Vegas, only not as clean (and that's saying something.) The good news: They don't have hornets and it only rained a little bit while we were in a restaurant eating lunch. So it was redeeming because we took the kids on a ski lift ride to view the very Smoky's we had been living in. I'll post pictures of G-Burg soon.

We are home and it sure feels good. I start work again tomorrow so the posts will most likely come later in the day and probably less frequently! I'll do my best!

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Much of this week for me has been spent in preparation for a long weekend camping trip with the kids. We will be hitting the trails in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Hopefully, at this time of year we will not be encountering any snow. But you never know the adventures that await you when you take your family on a camping trip!

As a child we did lots of camping. One of my first memories of camping was as a 6 year old. We left home after my dad was done with work and arrived at the campsite in the dark and the pouring rain. If you ask my mom what she remembers it goes something like this: It rained and rained and rained. And I was in a tent with a 6 year old (that's me!) and a 3 year old and a newborn (that is some guts right there!).

This is what I remember: Arriving in the dark. Settling in the tent. Falling asleep to the sound of rain. And waking up to the sun shining all over the place, glistening raindrops hanging off of trees and sitting on the blades of grass, our tent sitting in perfect view of a lake that the night before I couldn't see. It is a magical moment that is vivid in my mind as if it were yesterday.

Let me tell you of another memory of that camping trip (and subsequently all the other camping trips as well.) My mom always made what she called GORP. Now a days we call it trail mix. But it is essentially the same thing. She would mix salted peanuts and raisins and plain M&M's all together and put it in that old Tupperware canister...you know the one: light tannish brown with a cutesy flower imprinted on the side and the famous corrugated type lid. Now a days we call that "vintage". Anyway, the salt from the peanuts would make those M&M's and, yes, even the raisins, taste so yummy.

So the tradition continues. Only this time I have added to the pot. Mostly because I have to make a separate Non-peanut mix due to my allergy ridden son. And because Goldfish Crackers and Cheerios are staples in this household.

So there will be a posting pause as we enjoy our last family trip of Summer 2006.

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

When I cleaned out my closet last week I pulled out a box that contained my wedding veil.

The Girl, who loves when I deep clean because "she can find treasures" found this box and opened it. This is probably why it took 4 hours to clean my room....because every ten minutes she was finding something that I had to help her with. She also wanted me to drag my wedding dress out, but sometimes you just gotta say no.

Monday, August 07, 2006

While cleaning out my room last week I threw out 2 very large bags of trash. Purging of the unused trash is not only good for housekeeping...it is good for the soul.

Confession is also good for the soul. So it is here that I will start my monthly list of blogger confessions.

While purging my poor closet of all it's trashy fullness I came across my collection of purses and handbags, which brings me to :

Confession#1. When I am ready to switch out bags I tend to pull out the necessities and leave the junk and un-needed items in the unwanted bag. This helps twofold, you get a new clean purse going and then, later (sometimes 2.5 years later) you have something to write about in your blog.

After my closet was clean and organized I decided it was probably time to clean out the handbags of all the ample odds and ends. Out of five bags this is what I found. To make this easier think of the items in the circle as on the face of a clock. This is some of what I found:

1:oo- $1.33 in change. I was a little disappointed in this amount. Out of 5 bags you'd think that there would be at least $10.00!

2:00- A wedding favor tag that reads "Eric and Jenni May 2002". It has been so long I had to remember who Eric and Jenni were....Mostly because I didn't know him too well...and quite frankly because that was 2.5 years ago!

3:00- Assorted hard candies, mints and an occasional Sweet N Low package I swiped from various restaurants. You know, if you eat all that candy you want to make sure you have some sugar free sugar to balance it all out.

4:00- A checkbook register. Last Entry: 11/03. Scary.

5:00- Straws and earplugs?

6:00- A single Junior Mint resting on a paint swatch. The color name for that swatch: Coffee.

Confession #2: Yes! For one brief moment I thought about eating that one little Jr Mint...but I didn't do it!

7:oo- A lipgloss and mascara I have been searching for... for 18 months.

8:00- One of three Ritz Crackers. Each one in a different bag.

9:00- Paper clips and a store discount card...from a town I haven't lived in for a year and a half.

10:00- A ladies Bible study nametag.

Confession #3: I was always losing my nametags. I want to tell you this is the only one I have found. But this is true confessions.

11:00- One of many, many, grocery lists and some beads from my daughters broken necklace.

12:00- A plastic fork.

Now in the middle of the circle are various bits and pieces: Pens and pencils that were most likely stolen. If You are reading this and you see a pen that is yours...I am sorry.

Confessions #4- When it comes to your cherished pens and pencils, keep them close to you. I don't mean to steal them but I do.

And last, but certainly not least...Half a dog bone.

This little pile is the organized version....There was lots of other junk that consisted mostly of 1000 receipts from Costco and Kroger.

So there you have it. Some of you think I am an organized and efficient housekeeper. Ok maybe only one person thinks that. But now you know.

Some people shove everything into a closet or into the tub....I just throw it in a handbag.

Saturday, August 05, 2006

Normally I keep my weekends 'blogger free', but to make up for my lack of posting this week I decided to post on a Saturday.

I stumbled across these Crazy treadmill guys. Normally on Saturday mornings my running partner and I would have already been done with our long weekend run but she's currently on a mission trip. When we can't get together on a Saturday I usually just do the treadmill. After seeing this video I am inspired. Instead of just running this morning I think I will try to make up choreography and start doing this when she and I can't get together. :)

Friday, August 04, 2006

This weeks color for the photography project is blue. You can see them below.

I seem to be in a bit of a bloggers block. I have many things on my mind and yet no time today to lay them all down on paper....or key board. But let me tell you about last night.

There is a gal from church who is getting married tomorrow. She comes from a large extended family whom I have the pleasure of calling friends (not to mention neighbors). Last night I went down the street to hang out a bit with the 3 of the 5 "K's" (there are 5 of us...pic to come) K3 is here with her sweet family from the land of Texas.

All that to say, I brought my guitar. I never want to seem presumptuous but I enjoy playing and they are a musical family and I know they enjoy singing just as much as me.

Now, let me tell you that there are many fine qualities about these beautiful K sisters...However there ability to sing together in 3 part harmony is one of their best. So I had the pleasure to play and sing with them last night. At times it was hard to sing and play because I wanted to stop and just listen. It was an amazing time of fellowship and singing worship songs. It makes me want to practice more and build up my limited repertoire.

But alas, I cannot blog nor practice my guitar right now because my room is a disaster that must be fixed. So I am taking my turkey sandwich lunch and heading upstairs with two garbage bags and an upbeat CD of some kind...cause the work has got to be done!

Thursday, August 03, 2006

I had told myself that I needed to fold the ever growing pile of laundry that was accumulating on the guest bed before I could blog. It didn't happen on Tuesday. It didn't happen on Wednesday. Today I was going through some serious withdrawal...so I kicked my own rear and did what needed to be done.

I did my work. Now I can play.

Of course now it's time to cook supper.

In the meantime, go take a look at the newest member of our blogger's Circle of Friends.

La Vida Loca is a spin off of my blog by my much more mature friend. She is the older blond sister I always needed but never met until about 7 years ago. I love her for many reasons. Here are a few:

1. Being a lactation guru and R.N., she has actually seen me at my best breastfeeding self and at my current "can I borrow your 11 year olds trainer?" self...and she only brings it up when she really needs to.

2. Although she is not really that old, I tease her incessantly about her age...and she takes it graciously because she knows it means I love her.

3. She always buys me lunch when we are together. A residual effect from the days when I really didn't have any money...Please don't tell her that times have changed...I like my lunches.

So, that is my friend and new addition to the side link of blogs I currently read.

Tomorrow I will have more to post...unless the floors don't get cleaned....JUST KIDDING!